Spiritual Reflexes

Thank you, Mr. Clore, for that very upbeat and encouraging special music. And we are so blessed, aren't we? It is a real blessing to be here today on God's Sabbath.

You know, brethren, the top players in just about any sport that you would want to mention all have at least one thing in common, it seems. They all have quick, effective reflexes.

Last week, many of us watched the Super Bowl, and one of the reasons the particular players on the field were there is because they all have quick, effective reflexes. Don't think they would have been there otherwise, because that's a fast-moving game. Football, even if you're an alignment or a tackle, you've got to have pretty fast reflexes. In many sports, the players with the quickest, most honed reflexes are the ones who typically excel. In the sport of tennis, quick, powerful reflexes often make the difference between a champion and a mediocre player. In baseball, often the best hitters are those with the quickest, most powerful reflexes. They can hit a good curveball or the fastest of fast balls because they have quick, effective reflexes. Shohei Otani has quick reflexes.

Some of the greatest basketball players of all time are known for their quick reflexes.

This is true in most sports for both men and women, in soccer, in basketball, in hockey, and, as I said, most any sport. We, as Christians, must develop our reflexes. I'm not talking about our physical reflexes, of course, but our vital need to have quick, effective, spiritual reflexes and responses. To be true overcomers, we must be growing to the point that we will automatically respond in a spiritual way.

To any situation, at least this should be our goal. This should be what we're striving for, is to be able to respond in a spiritual way to any situation, circumstance, temptation, or trial that comes upon us. So how are your spiritual reflexes and your responses? Are they honed pretty well? Or perhaps, could they be better? So what is this sermon all about? It is about developing quick, effective, spiritual reflexes and responses as we prepare for the Passover in Days of Unleavened Bread.

We'll soon be here. This sermon will give you an opportunity to examine yourself in some very important areas of your spiritual life. How are you doing with your spiritual reflexes and responses? What does it mean for a Christian to have excellent spiritual reflexes? Well, you'll see that it means the Christian has the ability to respond in a spiritual way, as I mentioned, to any given stimuli or situation with which that person's faced.

Now, we all know that Satan is the great tempter, that he's the god of this world and that he really is like a roaring lion, seeking whomever he may devour spiritually. He is our adversary and he is determined to spiritually destroy us. When Satan is tempting you to sin, how do you react to that temptation? Have you thought much about that? First, do you even recognize the temptation? Or does it sometimes go over your head and you don't even realize that Satan is tempting you?

Or do you just blindly follow along and do Satan's bidding without really resisting? Remember, James 4 tells us to resist Satan and he will flee from us, so the opposite is true. If you don't resist Satan, he's not leaving. He's going to stick around until you do his bidding. Do you only resist a little bit, but then give in to the temptation? Maybe you resist for a little while. When Satan is tempting you, do you tend to rationalize and think of ways of how it wouldn't be so bad? Maybe that desire that you have that was talked about in the sermonette, maybe it isn't the best desire.

There are certain desires that we have that are not helpful, that are not healthy, and we do have to resist those desires and not rationalize. Or perhaps you just hide from God and refuse to think about the consequences and the wrongness of what Satan wants you to do and what you are humanly inclined to do anyway. Paul made it very clear that there's a battle going on within us, the law of sin that dwells in our members, a sin that easily besets us. Or do you, on the other hand, quickly recognize Satan's temptation and powerfully reject them, time after time after time? Is that the habit that you have?

And if you do, you have developed some strong, quick, effective spiritual reflexes. Let's go to Galatians chapter 5. This is a very powerful chapter, Galatians 5. Paul seems to understand a lot about the flesh and also the spirit. In Galatians chapter 5 verse 16, I say then, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh, the lust or the desire of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. Paul mentions that in Romans chapter 7 as well, that sometimes the things we don't want to do, we find ourselves doing and just the opposite.

Verse 18, But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now, that doesn't mean the law is done away. It basically means that you're not under the penalty of the law because you have a Savior and you're walking in the Spirit. You've accepted Christ as your Savior. You've received the Holy Spirit and you're walking in the Spirit. You've repented of your sins and you're striving to obey and follow God and serve Him. Now, the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery.

Okay, so adultery can be done in the letter, but we know it can also be done in the Spirit, right? Didn't Christ say, if you look at a woman to lust for her, you've actually committed adultery with her in your heart. And learning to walk in the Spirit and reject those kinds of thoughts are very important, those types of actions. So, works of the flesh, adultery, fornication. So, even outside of marriage, before a person's married, they're not to engage in sexual relations. The Bible's very clear on that. However, the world isn't because most of the stuff you see nowadays, and for the last 30 or 40 years, it's no big deal to sleep with someone before you're married. That's kind of par for the course. It's expected, right? No. It isn't expected. Not from God's Word. It isn't expected. So, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, anything that is an idol that comes before you and serving God. That's an idol. Idolatry, sorcery, hatred. You know, hatred, Christ said again, if you harbor hatred toward someone, you have murdered them in your hearts. So, we've got hatred. We've got contention. How many of us are sometimes in a contentious relationship?

Or at least for a short time with somebody. I mean, all of us have contentions that we have to deal with, either in our families or with other people, with people at work and so forth. But it depends on how we respond to contentious things. Jealousy. This is a work of the flesh, to be jealous. It kind of comes naturally. When someone else is exalted and we think we should have been, it's easy to be jealous. Outbursts of wrath. Anyone have a problem with anger from time to time? Selfish ambitions, perhaps? Dissensions? Heresy? Sometimes people entertain heresies. Envy. You're never envious, right? Never jealous, never envious.

Murders, drunkenness, revelries, which basically just means a party spirit that isn't proper.

It's okay to have fun. I like a good party as long as it's done in good fun. But this is not talking about that kind of fun. It's talking about revelries, going behind, illicit things going on. And the like, which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things, they will not inherit the kingdom of God.

So that's pretty powerful, isn't it? That people who practice these things, who don't seem to think it's that big of a deal, says very clearly, they will not inherit the kingdom of God. So we have to resist the works of the flesh. We have to resist Satan. We have to resist our human nature when it's inclined to go in that direction. Now, on the other hand, notice verse 22. But the fruit of the spirit, so works of the flesh, fruit of the spirit. The fruit of the spirit is love. First and foremost is love, joy, peace, long suffering or patience, suffering long, being willing to do that if necessary. Kindness. These are also responses, just like the works of the flesh. Those are responses. You don't have to wallow in envy and jealousy. You can reject that thought and not go down that path. These other responses, if you respond in love, with peace, with joy, with kindness and patience, with goodness, with faithfulness, with gentleness and with self-control, then you are learning to have good spiritual reflexes. So the fruit of the spirit is essential that we are producing the fruit of God's Holy Spirit. And those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. So we do live in the spirit. If God has granted us His Holy Spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Let's stir up the spirit of God and walk in the spirit and let us not become conceited because vanity and pride is a huge issue. Do not become conceited provoking one another, envying one another. So God is clearly telling us to be careful how we respond to whatever is happening in our lives, whatever circumstance, whatever stimulus, whatever Satan is doing to tempt us. It is important what our response will be. Will we respond in the flesh or in the spirit? The works of the flesh are at least to some degree, they are learned responses. Perhaps we didn't grow up in the best environment and we saw lots of bad examples of people who responded in certain ways to certain stimuli. And so we have learned to do that as well. Maybe in anger, maybe with jealousy or with envy.

You know, these things go on around us and we have to learn to resist that which is evil, that which is wrong, those things that God would have us resist, draw near to God, He will draw near to you, resist Satan, He's going to flee from you if you can learn to do that. We should learn to reject these temptations to sin and we should learn to do so quickly, like a reflex almost involuntary. You know, if we could get to that point where it was almost involuntary, like it was just second nature for us not to be angry, but to quell the anger and instead have self-control and respond in gentleness even when someone is being harsh with us. I mean, that's not easy. That's a lifelong process. That's not something that comes without a lot of prayer and Bible study and fasting and drawing near to God and having the Spirit of God stirred up within us so that we produce the fruit of the Spirit.

So, if you respond quickly with the fruit of the Spirit, you are learning to respond in powerful spiritual ways, showing love and compassion, showing peace and joy, showing patience and goodness and kindness and meekness and faithfulness. That's what we are striving for as Christians, to walk in the Spirit. Paul makes that very clear. Now, why does an athlete need to develop quick, effective, powerful reflexes? It should be rather obvious why they need to. Well, if they want to be good, if they want to be effective, if they want to be successful, the more quick, more effective and more powerful their reflexes are, the better they're going to do out on the field. Because his or her success in a particular sport often depends dramatically upon reflexes and responsibilities, you know, a person has to develop and hone these reflexes and responses if they're going to excel. If they want to make lots of money, now I know that's not your goal likely. That ship is probably sailed for most of us. I don't think I'm going to ever make it to the Major League Baseball, you know, I'm not going to make it to the Hall of Fame. I've resigned that at my age, it's not likely. It's impossible, right? Yes, I agree. It is impossible. Thankfully, that's not what's important to me. But what about a Christian? Being a Christian, why do we need to develop quick, effective, powerful spiritual reflexes? Because spiritual reflexes are necessary if we're to be become pleasing to God and to our Heavenly Father, Jesus and to Jesus Christ. So good, solid spiritual reflexes are essential if we are to become better, more profitable servants, more effective Christians. So I'm going to share with you now five practical ways to develop quick, effective spiritual reflexes and responses. So I think these are practical ways. You can apply them in your life. It seems like people look for practical things. I believe this is practical.

Number one, how does an athlete develop quick, effective reflexes? And how do we develop quick, effective spiritual reflexes? Well, an athlete must see his calling. He must see his ability.

First and foremost, he's got to recognize that he's got the ability that he can do this. He's got to have some trust and some faith in the God-given talent that God's given him. I wonder how many athletes never reach their full potential or never even recognize their special gifts or abilities. What if Michael Jordan, perhaps the best basketball player who ever lived? Now, that's an arguable thing. You know, is he the best? I don't know. Is it LeBron James? Some think maybe Steph Curry is the best. From a women's standpoint, maybe Caitlin Clark. But we know that if Michael Jordan had never picked up a basketball, he would have never become the best basketball player ever, right? What if he had never picked up a basketball? You know, what if he'd been born somewhere? Nobody played basketball? Then that talent would have been wasted in that sense, that basketball talent. What if Wayne Gretzky—you've heard of the great Gretzky, some of you have. I am going to use this analogy throughout the sermon today. So if you don't like sports, don't tune out, because you can still learn spiritual lessons about physical things like sports. So what if Wayne Gretzky, arguably the greatest hockey player of all time, what if he had cracked his head on the ice and given up skating when he was five years old?

He would not be known as the great Gretzky, would he?

First of all, a top athlete is likely very, very gifted, but he had to recognize that he was given that gift, and then he had to go develop it diligently. Now that's another point that we'll talk about in a bit. The first point, though, is recognizing the gift that one has been given.

And the spiritual point is we have to recognize our calling by God and then work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, as the scripture tells us, as Paul tells us. So developing good spiritual reflexes will help keep us on the right track spiritually. If a person doesn't recognize he has the tools that he needs and the wherewithal to accomplish spiritual goals with God's help, then he will never be truly successful in overcoming. He does need to have faith and believe that God has called him and that God has given him everything he needs, which basically is rely on God and you'll be fine. Trust in God. Look to him for the help that you need. Then he will truly be successful in overcoming. He must also have faith and trust in the God who has given him these abilities and has promised to never leave him nor forsake him. If God is with you, who can be against you? Right? So, brethren, we must hold our calling in high esteem. It really is a high and a holy calling. That's what the scripture says over and over. It's a high and a holy calling and we have to esteem it and truly treasure it as it is a great treasure and a gift from God.

So hopefully you look at it this way, that this is a wonderful gift. It's a great blessing, as Mr. Clors sang. It is a great blessing to be called of God. Now, King David was a man after God's own heart. He was wholehearted in his desire to seek God and to honor him.

He was especially equipped to lead God's people as king. So he understood that to some degree.

You know, God opened his mind to the truth that that he was to be God's representative, the first king. Now, God really didn't want them to have a king, though, did he? No, he wasn't the first king.

Saul was the first king. But David followed suit and he was anointed as king. But really, God didn't want them to have a human king because human beings have problems. And if people look to human beings, then there's going to be problems. And David was no exception. When David saw Bathsheba, instead of quickly rejecting an evil thought, this is a married woman. He's not available.

Even if you're king, she's not available. He could have saved himself a lot of grief and certainly Uriah his life. But David did not truly understand, respect, or honor his calling at the time. And he gave in to Satan's temptation. No doubt Satan had had this set up. But David didn't have to follow through. David didn't have to go that direction. Now, thankfully, God is a merciful and gracious God. And he did grant repentance to David because he looked at David's heart and he knew he was a man after his own heart. You know, he felt poorly, badly, awful when he finally faced his sin. Psalm 51, that we read all the time at Passover, David really did see himself and prayed that God would forgive him and not take the Holy Spirit away from him.

So that's a very powerful example. And then near the end of his life, he instructed his son Solomon to obey God and to set his heart and soul to seek God faithfully. Solomon seemed was off to a good start, but unfortunately he started applying some very wrong principles like marrying hundreds of wives. That's not God's way. That's the way of a king, a human king. That's not the way he should have done things. He should have rejected all that. He said, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to make alliances with other... You know, God says, don't make alliances with other nations.

And that was a lot of what all this marrying other women was about. But he didn't... He did not do these things and Israel paid a tremendous price for it. We know eventually they went into captivity.

Israel and the house of Judah later on. So there were tremendous consequences for not responding in a spiritual godly way. It could have been different.

In 1 Peter chapter 4, let's go there. Here we see God does supply the ability, but we must be willing to have instruments in His hand. We have to follow through. 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 7.

Peter writes, But the end of all things is at hand. So he thought Christ was coming back sooner, much sooner than He did. The end of all things is at hand. Therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. Now that's always good advice. Be serious. Be watchful in your prayers. And above all things, have fervent love for one another. That should be the first response. Respond in love.

That's the first fruit of God's Spirit. Above all things, have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins. When we are truly loving people, for one thing, we're not going to commit as many sins. And when we do, God will be very forgiving of us if we truly love each other and show that love toward each other. Verse 9, Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another. You know, God gives spiritual gifts to all of us. Minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. And if anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. Let him stick with the truth.

Speak the truth. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. A man should not get up here trying to glorify himself, but to glorify God in speaking the truth and leading people to Christ.

In all things, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you. But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.

So we have a great Savior who died for us. We don't have to be perfect, do we? Not in the flesh. Our goal is to become perfect, even as our Father in heaven is perfect. That is our destiny as children of God, and we are grateful that we are children of God.

So that is the first principle or the first step in developing spiritual reflexes, is you've got to be able to see the gift and the calling that God has given you. You have to cherish it.

You have to treasure it and be so grateful for it, and that will color everything else that you do.

Secondly, how does an athlete and also a Christian develop his God-given ability so that he will be more effective? Well, he practices many hours to develop his skills. So just being born with a gift isn't enough. I think I showed that. You know, it's like Michael Jordan could be born with a gift, but if he never even discovered it and never did anything with it, maybe he liked football more. And he might have been good at football. He was a good athlete. But anyway, he did discover that he was very good at basketball, and he was blessed.

Someone told me he gets about 250 million a year every year for the end of his life because of Nike. I don't know if that's true or not, but that's what I was told. I mean, they are paying him well.

So just being born with a gift isn't enough. He has to apply himself to learn all that he can about his sport. No doubt Michael Jordan did apply himself and learned how to play basketball.

His sport was a priority in his life. He was zealous for his sport. He practiced, he drilled, he rehearsed, and then he did it all over again. He put the time in, he put the effort in, and he worked hard and diligently. From another perspective, students often go through fire drills, don't they? As a child, I remember being sent outside, and we all knew it was just a drill, so we didn't take it very seriously. But we still had to line up and kind of know where we were supposed to go. So in case there was an emergency, we would be prepared. So again, we're talking about this type of thing. We have to be prepared. Now, some of you probably know CPR. Now, I've gone through a CPR class, but it was 30 years ago, or 40, and I haven't really stayed up on that.

So please don't have a heart attack near me, because I may not be able to do that great a job. I mean, I'd give it a shot, but hopefully someone more experienced is nearby. And if I ever have a heart attack, I certainly hope that people like Kyle McKenzie are nearby, because he's EMT. He kind of probably knows CPR pretty well, I would hope. If not, you better you better go learn it. No, I know he knows it. Yeah, others. But the point is, being prepared is very, very important. Taking it seriously, being prepared, that's the second step to developing good reflexes.

Lifeguards are another one. They have to be thoroughly trained in what to do if an emergency develops and they need to save someone from drowning. I want a good lifeguard around if I'm drowning. I want somebody that can pull me off the bottom and then again give me CPR if necessary.

From a spiritual perspective, we must spend hours in preparation if we are to develop quick, effective spiritual reflexes. Our spiritual growth must be a priority. Hours spent studying the Bible. Putting this book into our hearts and minds, that's important. That takes time.

It's not something that comes easily. That's why some of us who have studied the Bible for 50 years realize we still have more studying to do because there's a lot in here.

In 2 Timothy 1 verse 6, you don't need to turn here. It's just one verse.

Paul says, therefore I remind you, he's talking to Timothy, a minister who he trained, therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of God which is in you, through the laying on of my hand. So obviously he baptized him, laid hands on him, God granted him his spirit, and then later he ordained him as an elder, as a minister. So we are to stir up the gift of the Holy Spirit. We're not to let it go dormant. We have to stir it up, and we stir up the gift of the Spirit through putting into practice the fruits of the Spirit. These are practical things.

Learning to respond in love is practical. That's not rocket science. That's practical. You can learn to do that. To be joyful, you can learn to do that. You know, to be patient, long suffering, have self-control. These are things that are practical. So when you're not self-controlled, you need to ask yourself, why? Why is that?

The Bible clearly says a fruit of the Spirit is to learn self-control. So we have to repent. When we blow it, you have to ask God to forgive us. You know, I'm sorry, God. I should have had better control than that. I shouldn't have said what I said or did what I did. Please forgive me and help me to do better. I mean, that goes a long way, and God will hear that prayer, and God will forgive you, and He'll give you strength so that you can do better. So you can grow in these things, and your spiritual reflexes can be much better in some ways than they are. And this congregation will become a church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing if we learn to apply these things, you know, step by step, bringing every thought into captivity. We'll go through that Scripture a little bit later on.

So stirring up the gift of the Holy Spirit is important for us. Bible study helps us draw near to God and be instructed by Him. So it is important to study the Bible. You know, it's not a waste of our time to spend an hour a day in Bible study. That's not a waste of your time.

Now, it might be if you're binging on Netflix, that might be a much greater waste of your time than an hour spent in Bible study every day. I mean, you have to decide which is more important.

So Bible study prayer, taking the time to pray. Again, it takes time to do these things, to pray, to get on our knees, to pray for each other, to pray for one another, to pray for all the sick and the afflicted that we hear about. You know, we can do that even if we just take our phone on our knees with us and we scroll through all the prayer requests. And just remember to pray for each other. You know, that's important. And it will help us do better in having those spiritual reflexes so that when we're tested and tried and tempted, we can make the right choices.

Fasting properly also helps build humility in us. It helps build reliance upon God.

When we take the time to fast, as much as we hate to fast, it's worth the time.

Again, it's worth more than binging, binge watching. I know Netflix and Amazon and everything that's out there on your phone and everything else. That's a temptation to spend too much time on that sort of thing and too little time honing your spiritual reflexes.

So you have to decide how you're going to use your time. The Bible says redeem the time because Christ is coming back soon. And this is the only time you've got right now.

This is the only time you have. You know, we don't know how long you're going to live. I don't know how long I'm going to live. So redeem the time, use it wisely and effectively.

When essential spiritual tools, such as I've just mentioned, are neglected, it's easy to become spiritually lethargic. It's easy to go to sleep spiritually, like the ten virgins who fell asleep. Remember them? They all fell asleep.

Just like an athlete who refuses to buckle down and pay the price of diligence and hard work, they're going to eventually falter in their sport. They can't keep it up forever.

They will eventually falter. We, too, will falter spiritually if we're not applying these things in our lives. Now, I've often wondered what Babe Ruth might have accomplished had he been more disciplined and would have applied himself more fully. I mean, he was a mess in his personal life.

There's lots of stories about him eating 50 hot dogs at a time, by doing stupid stuff like sticking his, putting his coach out over the rail, the train, like threatening to throw him over the overboard. But he was so talented, they let him get away with it. And he would even go up drunk at times and hit a home run. I mean, the man was talented, but what if he had truly applied himself? What could he have accomplished? And I don't know how often he was drunk. Probably not very often. He hit 714 homers. That's a lot of home runs.

Sometimes good hitters in baseball will go into a slump and can't seem to get a hit no matter what.

You know, they go into a slump, some of the best. But if they continue doing their best, they will eventually come out of it. Normally, anyway, they may hit a slow time, but they'll come out of it if they just stay with it. It can be true even with us. We can hit a spiritual slump. And we wonder if we're making any progress. Are we growing? It seems like I'm studying the Bible a lot, but I don't seem to be getting anywhere. And we might get discouraged.

But don't give up. Keep working at it. Keep doing your best. Go through the motions if you have to for a while because you'll come out of that spiritual slump. And you'll be better off for it because you persevered. You stuck with it. You kept going. Sometimes a baseball hitter, for example, may be in a slump and have no idea what caused it. And then one day, he starts hitting again without any rhyme or reason. And the same thing might happen to us spiritually. We might go into a spiritual slump, but if we keep sticking with it and keep working at it, the next thing you know, we're doing better. We're not falling asleep at the wheel. You know, we're being faithful and diligent. Okay, I need to speed things up a bit. So let's consider 2 Peter 1, verses 5-11. We're not going to go there, but this is where it talks about being more diligent to make our calling and election sure. The Bible is clear that we need to be doing something. We need to be diligent to make our calling and election sure. So we have to apply these things in our lives. There is a sin that easily besets us, and if we're not careful, it will get the best of us. So we have to do our best to be diligent to make our calling and election sure. Yes, we're saved by grace. There's no doubt of that. Christ is merciful and forgiving, but he wants us to say, God, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I sinned against you, that I broke this law. Please forgive me and please help me do better.

God does want to hear us go through that and say that. If we have to say it often, say it as often as you have to say it, but learn to grow and overcome so that you don't have to say it quite so often. In fact, we'll get into that in a little bit. In Hebrews 11, verse 6, it basically shows us that we need to respond in faith. This is the faith chapter.

God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him in faith. So we need to continue to seek him in faith, knowing that God will grant us the victory in due time. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 58, your diligence and your labor is not in vain. Paul says, all of your diligence, all the prayer, all the Bible study, all the fasting, everything that you do, the meditation, the serving of others, the going to see the widows, visiting the poor and the afflicted, none of that is in vain. Your diligence, your labor is not in vain. Now, I don't know if you've heard this, but Steph Curry supposedly has the best workout of any basketball player ever.

In fact, other professionals say they can't keep up with him. And I don't know if you saw the All-Star game a few years ago. I don't watch many basketball All-Star games, but I caught this one and I'm glad I did because it was lights out. He would cross the half court point and he would shoot the ball and it would go in. Time after time, I think he scored 47 points in an All-Star game, something like that. I don't remember exactly, but I was pretty shocked and he was having the time of his life. He was putting on a show. He was loving the game. He was feeling it and he could barely miss. And it was pretty amazing to watch someone in the groove. He was in the groove, but he worked really hard to get there. He would have never gotten there otherwise. He put in the work. His workout is so grueling that most people, they say professionals can't stay up with him.

Anyway, it's important to know that it's not in vain. Whatever we do, whatever we put out there, it's not in vain. We have an interpreter. I think someone's interpreting. It's hard to just tell from here. Yes, there is someone interpreting. Sign language and interpreting isn't an easy thing to do. It takes some good reflexes. Because you've got to think in your head, how do I sign this? How do I interpret this? My wife, I've seen her spend hours and hours every week, every Friday evening. She gets notes and I know she's not the only one. Our other interpreters get notes of the messages and they spend time trying to figure out the best way to get the concept across so that our deaf members can understand more of the message.

If they weren't diligent, it would be word salad. It wouldn't make too much sense.

But those who know ASL, American Sign Language, and are able to get the concepts across, they're certainly more effective. Kudos to our interpreters, our sign language people.

We appreciate all that they do. Let's go on to a third step or principle in developing quick, effective reflexes. Just as a good athlete needs a good coach, oftentimes, we also need a good coach, spiritually. Coaches often make a huge difference in the development of an athlete. Some athletes were not thriving and they got a new coach. And the next thing you know, they're at the very top because that coach understood the person. He could see what he needed. He gave him good advice, good counsel, and it made all the difference in the world. The coach helped them to make quicker, wiser decisions on how they played their sport. Maybe Joe Burrow, who's a very fine quarterback, if he could get rid of the ball even a little quicker, he might not get sacked as much.

Of course, if we got a better offensive line, then he wouldn't get sacked as much either.

So there's a combination here. Hopefully next year. Hopefully next year. Now, gymnastics is a sport where a coach may make a huge difference in developing an athlete who's gifted but just hasn't had the right guidance. If you've heard of the name Bella Coroli, I think that's maybe how you pronounce it, greatest coach of all time for gymnastics. World-renowned. I think he's from Romania or somewhere like that. But the man knows gymnastics and is able to teach it and guide people in becoming good athletes. Now, he may be unbalanced in certain ways.

I won't deny that because sometimes that also happens. But spiritually, we have a very good coach and he's not unbalanced. He's very balanced. He knows what it takes. So we should look to God and to Christ to guide us by studying the scriptures faithfully, looking for those tidbits, that advice, that counsel that God gives us, that will see us through.

2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 15 says, study to show that you are a worker that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. It says we should diligently study our Bibles so that we would know the truth and be able to apply godly principles in our lives. Study to show yourself a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. So I guess we're to be ashamed if we're not doing that. If we're not doing our part, if we're not redeeming the time and spending time in the Bible, then we're neglecting it. So as we prepare for Passover, we should examine ourselves. Are we doing these things? Could we do better? We could probably all do better, right?

I know I could do better. It's not... there's nothing wrong with saying I could do better.

In fact, I think that's healthy. And we should try to do better.

All right, a fourth principle. What is another way an athlete may develop quick effective reflexes? Well, athletes must learn to carefully monitor and control their environment.

As much as they possibly can. An athlete who is serious about his training is very careful about his regimen, what he eats, how much sleep he gets, the exercise that he does, what he thinks about even. I remember one pitcher that would have... he had a psychologist or psychiatrist or somebody guiding him so he'd keep his mind straight. And there was Josh Hamilton. Some of you might remember Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers. He had one of the the truest swings of anyone. He could hit the ball further than just about anyone, but he got into drugs and he got into drinking.

And he was a mess off the field. He was a great hitter, but he never reached his potential.

Not even close. He even paid someone 70 or 80 thousand to keep him out of trouble for a few years. And it was money well spent because he needed help. He needed someone to guide him, to coach him along. And he was trying to do something with his environment, but he just wasn't able to manage it. Didn't play as long as he could have played. And it was sad, especially for the Texas Ranger fans. I did live in Dallas for a little while. All right, Romans 13 says, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Make no provision for the flesh. That's talking about our environment. Don't make provision for the flesh.

Don't do things that would hurt you spiritually. Don't watch things that would hurt you spiritually.

Don't listen to things that would hurt you spiritually. Don't have company with people that will hurt you spiritually. Make wise decisions, especially young people. You know, the people you hang around with. It's important to have good friends that will help you grow spiritually instead of leading you away from God. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Make no provision for the flesh. And then Colossians 3, verse 2 says, set your mind on the things above, not on the things on the earth. So how good are we at doing that? Setting our minds on the things that are above, spiritual things, laying up treasure in heaven rather than worrying about treasure here on earth, having our priorities straight. Choose carefully what you allow into your minds and your hearts. And don't compromise on this. And if you have, then it's time to stop compromising. Which leads us to the fifth and final point. What is another way an athlete may develop quick, effective reflexes by being willing to do the hard stuff, to take the drastic measures?

I guess Steph Curry takes the drastic measures. He works harder than just about anyone else.

And that, to some, that seems overboard. That seems drastic. But the fruits have been good in terms of him being able to be an all-star for many, many years. I think, I don't know how many years, but lots of years. He's been really good. Alright, so develop quick, effective reflexes by being willing to do the hard stuff. So if you're having a particularly difficult time overcoming a particular sin, maybe it's something that you struggled with for years and years. You've never been able to get a handle on it. Or maybe you're young and you're struggling with something.

You can't get a handle on it. It continues to come back time after time.

Well, I'm going to throw something drastic at you. Have you ever thought of fasting every time you sin in that way?

Now, if you find the thing that is the most tempting and the most difficult for you, and you make a commitment that, if I do this again, I'm going to fast. I'm going to start within 24 hours and I'm going to fast. And if I do it again, I'm going to fast again.

And I'm going to keep fasting until I'm no longer so tempted by this. Now, wouldn't there be some power? I mean, God would see that you're serious about putting the sin out of your life. You've committed yourself to fasting. In fact, we hate fasting so much, we might just stop because of that. I don't want to fast. I'm not going to do that. It's not worth it to me.

Now, whatever it takes, sometimes those are drastic things. You know, Christ said, if your arm or hand offends you, cut it off. If your foot offends you, cut it off.

It's better to go into the kingdom of God maimed. Now, obviously, you don't go into the kingdom of God maimed because we'll be spirit beings, but it's an analogy that Christ is giving.

He's not telling us to cut our arms and legs off. God doesn't want us to do that, but he wants us to be willing to take some drastic measures in order to grow and overcome. So you have to decide how that might be applied in your life. So he says, the way he puts it, it's better to enter into eternal life or life, lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the everlasting fire. So pretty strong wording from our Savior, Jesus Christ. If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off. That's pretty drastic. God doesn't want us to do that physically, but spiritually, he wants us to learn to take the hard steps to do what needs to be done.

Okay, 2 Corinthians 10 verses 4 and 5. Let's go there quickly. Two verses. 2 Corinthians chapter 10. And you've heard me say this many times because I think it's an important verse that is difficult to apply. 2 Corinthians 10 verse 4. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. Things like drastic sins that are drastically getting the best of us, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity. See, that's really learning to have a spiritual reflex, learning to bring every thought into captivity, so that you're only—you're rejecting those thoughts that are evil, you're accepting those good thoughts, and you're acting on those things.

And then one last scripture. 1 Corinthians chapter 9. You know, Paul also brings out this athletic analogy. In 1 Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 24, he talks about running a race.

1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 24. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Normally that is the case. If you're in a race, it's usually the winner, number one. Number two, not so great, but number one, they're the ones that get the prize.

Now, number two might get a smaller prize, but number one gets the prize. Thankfully, as a Christian, we all get the prize. So that's awesome that, you know, we're not competing against each other. God has the same gift for us all. He says, run in such a way that you may obtain the prize, and everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things.

Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus, not with uncertainty, thus I fight, not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. You know, Paul understood that he was not exempt, that God could take his spirit, take the Holy Spirit away from him. If he practiced sin, if he went into the things that, excuse me, that Paul warns us against, he knew that he had to toe the line, run the race, be one who admits his sins and asks God to forgive him, because he knew he was saved by grace. He's the one that said it. Ephesians chapter 2. We are saved by grace. So Paul set that example for us.

He tells us to stay the course, to discipline ourselves. So brethren, from a spiritual perspective, we must all strive to respond in a spiritual way as quickly as possible when we're under temptation or trial. Whatever situation or circumstance that may come our way, we should meet it with a spiritual response that will be pleasing to God. How good are you at responding appropriately in a godly way? It isn't always easy, is it, to respond in a godly appropriate way when we're being tested. It takes dedication, it takes zeal, it takes hard work, it takes perseverance, it takes patience, humility, it takes love, it takes producing the fruit of the Spirit. And those qualities are not developed overnight. You know, they're not developed overnight. It's a lifelong process. Learning to respond in a spiritual way is important, and God will help us along the way, and he'll help us win the battle. He will supply what we need, but we must also yield to him and let him do his work in us. Let Christ live in you.

Remember with God all things are possible. Brethren, we can learn to respond in more godly ways.

We can make progress, we can be overcomers, and we can have quick, effective spiritual reflexes and responses.